There are many settings in which articles (objects) are dispensed from a dispenser in a controlled manner and there is a desire and/or need to keep track of the precise number of articles that have been dispensed and/or the precise number of articles that remain in the dispenser. For example, one such application is a pill dispenser in which pills are initially stored in a pill container and are to be taken according to a schedule. One exemplary pill dispenser is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,727,180, granted May 20, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The teachings of the present invention can be incorporated into this type of pill dispenser; however, the teachings can equally be incorporated into other types of pill dispensers and can be incorporated into other applications besides pill dispensing (e.g., other applications in which a quantity of articles (objects) are controllably dispensed.
Various systems have been proposed for counting items within or removed from a receptacle using integrated scales and sensors, however, the existing systems each have associated deficiencies. For instance some proposed systems require direct contact between the contained material and electrical sensor elements for measuring the contents. Generally, the proposed systems also lack the ability to measure the contents with sufficient precision and accuracy and fail to adequately account for changes in ambient conditions that can adversely affect the measurements. A further deficiency of the existing systems is that they must be specifically constructed or designed for a particular type of material and are not configured to accurately measure/count a variety of different types of materials having different properties (e.g., weight, size, shape and the like).
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.